How To Survive The Summer Holidays without resorting to G&Ts at 10am

When you have two small children, the Argh-Factor can be rather high. Especially during the summer holidays. I will admit to being a bit spoilt, during term-time I have a lot of freedom to do what I want. This does mean that I sometimes find it a bit hard-going when they are home for the summer. We have almost 8 weeks school holidays and the children just never stop. Constant noise, bickering, yelling, singing, dancing, show-rehearsing, dog-annoying, yogurt-on-the-floor-spilling.

The only thing that helps is keeping them occupied and I am very grateful that the weather has been great so far and we can get out of the house. Even just going to the beach down in the village is enough to tire them out. We are lucky that we have a stony beach very nearby and a sandy beach just 15 mins away.

We cannot spend all day everyday out and about though, the pesky house-elves are on holiday too so I have to do something at home occasionally. Recently we did a child swap with another family. Their children are similar ages and so often our daughter has a playdate with their daughter while the sons play together. It works very well together.

I save up some tasks as “Special Treats” – things that are everyday normal occurances but if presented well make the children’s eyes light up. One of these treats is Sprinkler Play. The lawn needs to be watered anyway so I wait until the children get home and then say, “As a Special Treat, I thought we would put the the sprinkler on today” and then bask in the adoration and delight.

Recently my son invited his friend to the house. It was one of those early summer days when the garden is beginning to bloom, everyone has dug out their summer clothes and is walking with an extra spring in their step. Before we all start complaining about the heat and that it has not rained for days and soon we will have a hosepipe ban and it is impossible to sleep at night.

The boys had such a fab time playing in the garden, jumping over the sprinklers, dodging the water and squealing with delight when they were caught. Whenever I am a bit grumpy, I have a look at the pictures as they are guaranteed to bring a smile to my face.